Extreme-action simulcast performance connecting UA and Streb April 27

04/22/2013

In an innovative collaboration, 20 dance and theatre students at The University of Akron will create an extreme-action performance with Brooklyn's Streb on Saturday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m., in Daum Theatre in Kolbe Hall on the UA campus.

Interactive video technology will connect performers and audiences at The University of Akron and at Streb's SLAM studio in Brooklyn — producing a single experience in two separate locations.

Tickets are free but required, and can be obtained in person on campus in Guzzetta Hall 394 or by calling 330-972-7948 or e-mailing dance@uakron.edu. Tickets are limited, and on a first-come, first-served basis.

The program will open with Streb performing "Forces" at its Brooklyn site. Then, the action will switch to Daum Theatre where the UA students will perform "Flippy Zippys," named after The University of Akron mascot. Audiences at both locations will be able to view the action.

Led by UA dance instructor Kara Stewart, the UA students have been working on campus since January with visiting members of Streb to learn the company's strenuous "PopAction" techniques. Last month they traveled to the Streb studio in Brooklyn, working and performing with members of the company and choreographer Elizabeth Streb.

Known for its high-flying, body-slamming, daredevil performances, Streb has been featured on such shows as "David Letterman Show," "CBS Sunday Morning," "CNN Showbiz Today," Nickolodeon, "NBC’s Weekend Today," MTV and "ABC Nightly News."

Last summer, Streb was part of the 2012 Olympics in London. A team of 32 dancers performed seven "actions" throughout the day on the London cityscape, including scaling down City Hall, bungee jumping from the Millennium Bridge and attaching themselves to every other spoke of the EDF Energy London Eye.